Then I Met You
by all-things-olicity
Summary: Annabeth can't wait for her senior year at Goode High School to be over. Then she'll finally be able to move out of her father's house-not that he would notice her absence anyway- and start fresh at NYU in the fall. But the start of 2nd semester brings a few surprises. And one of them is a new student from Chicago named Percy Jackson.
1. Chapter 1

Annabeth woke up to her alarm buzzing insistently in her ear. She rolled over and hit the 'Off' button, glaring at the tiny numbers that were forcing her to get up and start another day. Even though today was the first day of her second semester of senior year at Goode High School, she really didn't feel like getting up and going through her daily routine before school. The only reason she was able to make herself move was because it looked like it was going to snow and she had to walk to school because her car was getting an oil change. She got up and looked in the mirror and really wished that she hadn't. Her grey eyes were ringed with tiredness, and her curly blond hair was a mess. She sighed and went to take a shower.

She was sitting at the kitchen table with her father eating her bagel, waiting for the clock to hit 7:30, because that was what time she had to leave. She was _not_ sitting here until the very last minute in the hopes of her father speaking to her. She looked at the clock and sighed when it read 7:15.

Dr. Frederick Chase, professor of Military History at NYU, was never the type of father to show that much emotion. With his salt-and-pepper hair, glasses on his nose, plaid button down shirt, and khaki pants, he looked every bit the college professor that he was. But he never seemed to have time for her. She always felt like an unwanted pest around him. When she was little she would come home from school with her report card -all A's of course- and proudly show it to him, he would respond with a " _that's nice"_ or " _good job"_ but never more than that. She wasn't exactly sure why her father didn't pay that much attention to her, but over the years she had taught herself not to care. She had become very good at hiding how she felt, and taking her emotions and pretending they didn't exist. Though this left her feeling emptier inside than she wanted to admit, it was better than constantly being reminded that her father didn't love her.

She stared at the light brown walls in silence, methodically chewing her bagel as she did every morning.

 _Why is it always like this?_ she thought to herself. _Why can't he just even ask me about my grades like any normal father would?_

She knew better than to think like this because it would only hurt her, but sometimes on days like today, she let herself wonder what ever happened to make him so cold and detached.

I mean for gods sake she couldn't even remember when he had hugged her last. She looked at the clock again and saw that it said 7:25. She got up, brushed the crumbs off herself, and started the twenty-minute walk to school. She banished all thoughts of her father from her mind as she walked. She was Annabeth Chase and she did not do self pity.

Closing the door to her locker, she gave a surprised squeak because her two best friends Piper and Hazel had snuck up on her without her noticing. They had all been friends since Pre-K when they picked the same picture to color on a random Tuesday. Piper had noticed and invited them to sit with her, and the rest was history.

"Hey Annabeth!" Piper said.

"Hey guys, how was your weekend?" she asked them. They had both been away visiting colleges that weekend.

"Mine was ok. I don't know if Dartmouth is the school for me though…" Hazel replied.

"Why not? I thought that was your like, 2nd pick," Annabeth said.

"Well, I don't know. I think i'm just going to stay closer to home. I have been thinking about applying to NYU."

Annabeth wasn't really surprised at her decision though. Hazel was very quiet and shy, but she was also very smart. Not to mention gorgeous. She had caramel skin, big brown eyes the color of cocoa, and hair that looked black until she got out in the sun. Then it looked more of a chocolate color.

"Really?" Piper asked. "How did you not tell us about this till now?"

"Because, I wanted to make sure that Dartmouth was just not for me first. I just don't see myself going there, you know?"

Annabeth could relate. She had looked at a lot of colleges before deciding that she wanted to go to NYU. But she was only going for the great architectural program they had there. Otherwise she would be out of this state and not look back.

"Ok that makes sense. Wanna hear about my visit?" Piper asked.

"Are you gonna make us answer that?" said Hazel.

"Naw. Anyway, it was _amazing._ FIT* has everything I want in a school. I mean Michael Kors went there! And it will be like 9 minutes from you guys! I'm so excited. We all just need to make sure we get into them now."

"Don't worry Piper. I'm sure we will all be okay. I mean we all have good grades and Annabeth is clearly going to be valedictorian so she won't have a problem."

"Thanks Hazel," she said.

Their conversation was interrupted by the bell and they all hurried off to their first class of the day.

She was walking into her Calculus class with her head down, when she crashed into something solid, but warm. She felt herself falling, but two hands reached down to catch her. Looking up she saw the most gorgeous boy that she had ever seen. He had startling, green eyes that were the exact color of the sea, messy black hair that Annabeth knew would never be tamed, and tan skin that looked like he spent all his days on the beach. He still had his arms wrapped around her from catching her and they were standing so close she could smell his ocean-y and pine scent.

"Oh, I'm so sorr-..." she started

"Are you alri-..." he said at the same time, removing his hands.

 _No, leave them there!_ she thought. Then she realized what she just thought and quickly took a (small) step back.

"I'm fine, i'm so sorry I wasn't looking are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry im new here. I just moved from Chicago. Whats your name?"

"Annabeth." She could not look away from his eyes.

"I'm Percy. It's nice to meet you. Sorry about crashing into you and all…"

"No, No... it's totally fine I wasn't watching where I was going." She felt like he could see right into her and all her closely guarded secrets.

"Ok, um well this is my class so…."

"Oh, right….me too."

They walked in together and took their seats. Annabeth's in the front, left corner by the window, and Percy took one in the middle of the room. She felt like those green eyes were watching her through the whole class.

*FIT stands for Fashion Institute of Technology

 **A/N: Okay so this is my first fanfic ever and i'm really excited to have people read it!**

 **I have to say though that i am home schooled and have been my whole life so im just going off of this my friends have told me about everything that goes on in school.**

 **I also have no idea how long this will be but i'm just gonna continue it and see where it takes me. I can't promise when i will update or how often but i will try to do it at least once a week. My schedule is really crazy (im a figure skater and i wake up at 4 am everyday) so my apologies in advance for that. Yeah… i think thats it…**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

The next day Annabeth was walking to school again, since she didn't have time to go and pick up her car the night before, due to homework. She shivered and pulled her jacket tighter around her body. Suddenly a silver prius pulled up to the curb where she was walking, and the driver rolled down the window.

"Need a ride?" said a familiar voice. Percy was looking at her through the open window with a smile on his face.

"Oh, hi Percy," she said. "I-I think i'm okay…" she didn't sound very convincing while her teeth were chattering though.

"Jeez Annabeth, its freezing out. Come on, get in the car, it's not a big deal. We are going to the same place right?" he says laughing.

 _Not a big deal to you..._ she thought.

"Well...um...yeah...ok." _Smooth Chase….real smooth._

She clambered over the snow that had piled up the night before to get in, and Percy turned the heat up for her.

"So, do you have a car?" he asked.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. But, I had to get the oil changed in it and I couldn't pick it up last night because Mr. Brunner gave us all that Latin homework." She was holding her frozen hands in front of the vents trying to get some feeling back into them.

"Oh yeah, that took me a while to get through...I'm just lucky that Mrs. Dodds didn't give us anything for Calc because then I would've been up all night."

Annabeth laughed then stopped herself startled. When was the last time somebody had made her laugh? She couldn't remember.

"So, do you have any brothers or sisters? Percy asked.

She felt herself go on alert and put her mental walls up.

"No, its just my dad and I at home."

Percy nodded, but kept his eyes on the road.

"I don't have any either, but my mom just got remarried to this guy Paul Blofis."

"Do you like him?" she asked.

"Paul? Oh yeah he's great. This is actually his car. But since he hasn't started his new job yet he is letting me use it to get to and from school."

"Oh, nice of him." She tried to imagine her father remarrying but she didn't think it was possible. He was too cold and calculating to have somebody fall for him.

"Okay we're here, let me drop you at the door."

"Oh no, you don't have to I can walk." she said.

"No, you're still shivering with the heat on high, and we have been in the car for at least 7 minutes. I'm dropping you at the door."

"Okay." she said defeated. "Thanks for the ride Percy."

"Welcome. See you in calc!" he said waving.

She felt a little thrill run up her spine when he said that, and it had nothing to do with the cold.

"I'm telling you he likes you." Piper said.

Annabeth, Hazel and Piper were sitting in their usual cafeteria spot eating lunch and Annabeth was filling them in on her ride to school with Percy that morning.

"He does not. He is just a nice person." Annabeth defended.

"Someone's in denial." Hazel said.

"I am not! And besides I just met him! Like not even 24 hours ago!"

Annabeth didn't want to allow herself to think that Percy could have feelings for her. She knew better than to get her hopes up. She hated hope. She knew she shouldn't set herself up for disappointment like that, but that one little traitorous part of her still hoped. Against her will.

 _Oh well what am I gonna do about it._ she thought.

She ate the rest of her lunch in silence listening to her friends tell her how cute of a couple they would be.

She walked into Calc a few minutes early and plopped down in her seat trying to pretend she wasn't there. Of course it didn't work.

"Hey, Annabeth."

She looked up to see Drew Tanaka standing over her.

"Hi. Can I help you?"

Drew was the richest girl in town and resident bitch at Goode. And for some reason, unknown to Annabeth, she loved to make her life hell.

"I was just wondering where you got your shirt?"

Annabeth looked down at her shirt. It was a On-the-clearance-rack buy from Target. She was too tired to think of why Drew would want to know where she had gotten her shirt. For gods sake the girl wore lipstick from Dior and had Prada yoga pants. Annabeth didn't see the reason to spend 35 dollars on lipstick, but to each his own right?

"Target," she said rolling her eyes.

Drew burst out laughing and walked away with her posses following her like lost puppies.

 _What the hell was that about?_ she wondered

Actually when she thought about it Drew was like a classic popular high school girl from the movies. She even had the voice for it. Everything about her just screamed "I'm a major bitch and you're not gonna do anything about it." She just wanted to get through this class, go home and do her homework and curl up with a new book she was reading.

Unfortunately she had to listen to Mrs. Dodds drone on about Vector Fields for an hour before she could do that. She looked behind her to see Percy sitting in his seat with his eyes glazed over as he listened to her lecture. Something about his facial expression was seriously amusing to her and she had to turn around and stifle a laugh. The lesson wasn't so bad after that.

Annabeth was closing her locker while telling Hazel and Piper about Drew's pointless interaction with her before Calc when Percy strode up to her. Hazel and Piper shot each other knowing looks and walked away whispering. Annabeth rolled her eyes at them and turned to Percy.

"Hi Annabeth, I was just wondering if you uh, had the homework for calc tonight? I was kinda spaced out when she told us…." he said.

She thought it was cute how his face got all red and he rubbed that back of his neck like he was worried she would laugh at him or something. Then she chastised herself for think it was cute.

"Oh yeah, um can I text it to you? I have to go pick up my car and I'm running a little late."

"Sure, uh lemme get your number…"

They exchanged phone numbers and as she was leaving he ran to catch up with her.

"Do you need a ride or anything? To the car place? Because I can totally take you if you want."

She kind of wished that she hadn't already asked Piper for a ride.

"No thanks I'm-uh, I'm getting a ride with Piper," she told him.

He looked crestfallen for a moment before his face picked up in his usual smile.

"Oh okay, well then I will text to you later. Don't um, text and drive or anything!" he says waving at her while walking towards his car.

She couldn't help but smile and wave back before climbing into Pipers car.

After she got home from the repair shop, she went up to her room to start her homework. She checked her phone and saw she had a new text. From Percy.

' _Hey Annabeth when you get home can you text me the calc stuff? thx...'_

She smiled and sent him the info. Not even a minute later he replied-

" _Shit thats alot. why do all the teachers assign us so much for every class?"_

Smiling she responded.

" _Because they forget we have other classes too I guess."_

" _Well, how moronic of them"_

This time she couldn't stop the laugh that burst from her mouth if she wanted to. Percy was like a breath of fresh air after a long winter. She couldn't remember when the last time she had felt this at ease talking to a person. Especially somebody she had just met.

" _Um...do you have a skype?"_ he asked.

" _yeah why?"_

" _Would it be totally weird if I asked you for help with this? I kinda don't have a clue as to how to do this shit…..and well….you're smart"_

She flushed at the compliment even though he couldn't see her.

" _no that's not weird. call up.'_

She sent him her username and he called a few minutes later.

She was happy to say that they spent the better part of the night just talking about nothing and doing calc.

 **A/N:**

 **Hi everybody so i was bored so i decided to just do chapter 2 tonight as well.**

 **This was fun to write and i promise that there will be more percabeth in the future...just not sure how soon….any way i have to be up early tomorrow and it's currently 11 pm so goodnight!**

 **Review and tell me what you think!**


	3. Chapter 3

Annabeth had fallen into a new routine these last three of weeks. Every morning the first thing she did was check her phone to see if Percy had texted her. (Most mornings there was a text waiting for her, and no,she did _not_ get overly excited when all he said was "hi.")

She would then rush around her room getting ready for school and bolt out the door, bagel in hand, to pick up Percy on her way to school. His step-father Paul, had started his new job this past week and he had needed his car back. (He was an English teacher at the middle school across town.) They both knew he could just take the bus, but when he had asked Annabeth to drive him everyday, she wasn't going to say no. He helped keep her mind off other things.

Lately, thoughts of her father had been taking up a lot of space in Annabeth's head. She remembered a time where she would sit in the same room as him while she read, just so she felt some connection to him. She had never had that parent/daughter relationship. Sure, she had Piper and Hazel, but it wasn't exactly the same as being able to come home and tell your father that some kid had pushed you off the swings, and have him pull you into a hug and tell you that it was okay, or that you scored a 100% on that big math test you freaked about, and have him whoop in happiness and scoop her up in a hug. She just didn't get it. What could she have done to him that made him just _ignore_ her like that? Wasn't a father supposed to be overly protective of his only daughter?

She pulled into Percy's driveway with ten minutes to spare, so instead of sitting in her car and getting lost in her thoughts, she got out and rang the doorbell.

The door opened to reveal a smiling Mrs. Jackson. (or was it Mrs. Blofis now? She would have to ask Percy later.)

"Hi, Annabeth!"

"Hi, Sally. How are you?"

"I'm just fine, dear. Percy should be out in just a minute. Do you want some pancakes?" she asked, leading her into the kitchen.

"Oh, no thank you, I ate on the way over."

"Okay, make yourself comfortable then," she said waving an arm towards the big, navy couch in the living room. "I'll let Percy know you're here." 

Annabeth thanked her, and looked around the room. She had been to his house before, but every time she came over, there was something different that she hadn't seen before, due to the fact that they were still unpacking. Today, she noticed a whole new cluster of photos on the wall. Annabeth loved photos. She loved being able to look at them and remember all the memories that were behind them. As she looked at them, she could see how happy Percy looked in all of them. She found herself coming back to stare at one of the three of them in front of the United Center in Chicago. They were all wearing Blackhawks jerseys and hats and Sally and Paul were laughing at Percy's ridiculous pose. She wondered if she would have pictures like this in her house if her family was, well - like a family.

"Like what you see?"

Annabeth yelped. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard him come up behind turned to face him and plastered a smile on her face so he wouldn't ask what was wrong.

"Very funny. I didn't know you liked hockey. I thought you were just into swimming."

He grinned, waving her off.

"Nah, you found my weakness. I'm a diehard hockey fan."

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"You are a _hockey_ fan. Like actually will sit down and watch a game on tv."

"Um, yeah. Why? Is that surprising to you?

"Maybe a little. I didn't take you for one. Besides I secretly love it too."

She imagined them sitting close together on the couch in his living room watching the game and him screaming at the tv about an unfair tripping call the ref made, or jumping up cheering when the Hawks scored, and he would hug her and it would feel so _right_ and he would pull back, and look into her eyes and lean in close and - _Whoa._ she thought. _Where did that come from?_ She shook her head clearing her thoughts and realized - she had just told him something about herself that she never told Piper or Hazel. How had she let that happen? Sure it was small and stupid but still...what if she let her and her father's relationship slip? She made a mental note to be more careful around him. Scolding herself for letting him get under her skin, she turned around and walked to the door.

"Come on, we're gonna be late for school."

 **A/N: So I know I haven't updated in a while, but I am moving and I haven't had a lot of time to write. This is kinda just filler because I felt like I needed to get something posted. Anyway…..Review! Let me know what you think.**

 **P.S. I had an idea for a new story the other day and i'm really excited to start working on it.**


	4. Chapter 4

Annabeth was sitting on Percy's bed, staring at the pale blue ceiling, lost in her thoughts. She found herself over at Percy's house almost everyday now. In the last month, it had become a habit to take Percy home and stay there, working on homework or sitting on his bed talking. It was like he knew when she needed to blow off steam, or wanted to sit with somebody and not be alone with her thoughts. His house was like an escape - from herself. Something about Percy made Annabeth want to tell him about what had been bothering her so much, but the mental wall she built around her thoughts holds her back. When she thinks about telling him, a little voice in her head says, _No. Nobody wants to listen to all your family issues, Annabeth. Stop asking for a pity party._ So, like with everything else, she pushed it to the back of her mind and tried to forget about it. Yet, she can't help but wonder when the back of her mind is going to be so full, she just can't ignore everything anymore.

"Hey," Percy said, waving a hand in front of her face. "I lost you there. You sure you're okay?"

"Wha-? Oh yeah, I'm fine." she said sitting up. His bed was much more comfortable than hers was. Plus, his room had a more lived-in feel to it. She had always kept hers neat and organized just for something to do.

He gave her a withering look. "Annabeth, I can tell something is wrong. You don't have to tell me, but I'm here for you if you need to, okay?"

She turned to where he was standing in front of her. "Thanks, but It's nothing. I'm just a bit tired I guess."

"Okay." He glanced down at his book. "Now do you have the answer for number twenty?"

"Yeah, but who says I will give it to you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Pleeeeeeease?" he asked.

She hated when he did this because his puppy dog eyes were the only thing she couldn't say no to.

"I hate you, you know."

"Love you too Wise Girl."

Annabeth told herself the little flutter in her stomach was because of the Physics test she had tomorrow.

By the time Friday rolled around Annabeth was drained. The week had been exhausting, and she hadn't even had that much homework. She and Percy decided that they would meet after dinner, so that left Annabeth to suffer through another meal by herself.

However, when she walked into the kitchen, she found her dad standing by the counter on his phone.

He motioned for Annabeth to wait, so she took a seat at the table wondering what the hell this could be about. They hadn't had a real conversation in at least a year. He hung up his phone and sat across the table from her.

"I know we don't talk much, so this might be hard for you to understand," He said folding his hands.

She looked at him in bewilderment. They didn't talk _at all_ let alone 'not much.'

"Where are you going with this? I have somewhere to be." She knew she was being less than cordial, but did he really think they were going to sit down and chat like old buddies?

"At work today I got a call in to my boss's office. He informed me that he wants me to go to San Fransisco to do more extensive research on one of the topics I have been working on for a long time. He offered me better pay, and told me that he needs a decision by tonight. I have decided to accept."

"Okay, well good for you then. Why are you telling me this?" Annabeth said putting her head on her hand.

"Because you are coming with me."

Her elbow fell off the table. She sat there in a stunned silence, looking at him like he had just admitted to being a marshian or something. He couldn't honestly expect her to uproot her life for him - in the middle of senior year no less - when he hadn't even talked to her all these years.

"You can't exactly make that descision for me. Why do you want me to come with you anyway? You haven't paid any attention to me in forever, whats with the sudden interest now?" This was really pissing her off. Was this his version of a joke?

"Annabeth, I know you think that, but you are my daughter and I care about you very much. I want you to move with me because it could be a fresh start for us."

 _Fresh start? Bullshit he cares. What the hell is he talking about?_ she thought. _There is no starting over with me, Dad. That ship has sailed._

"If you cared you would have actually been around or tried tohave a conversation with me. You can't all of a sudden pop into my life saying you care and expect me to be welcoming you with open arms."

"I know I haven't been the best father, Annabeth. But I want the chance to fix that. I think moving somewhere new could give us that opportunity."

This was too much. What did he not understand? He had missed his chance to get to know her. She was grown up now. Didn't he see that? She had practically lived alone since she was old enough to do her own hair. Why did he think he could catch up on 10 years of her life in a couple months?

"Do you have any idea what your asking me to do? You can't expect me to drop everything to have a few months of 'bonding time' before I go off to college."

"Annabeth, I want a relationship with you. I realize that I haven't always been there for you - "

"Haven't always been there? Try never! You were _never there for me_. You can't come in here now and try to tell me that you care and you want to get to know me, because if that were true, you would have listened to me when I came home from school with stories of what we did that day, or when I asked about mom, or just sat and watched a movie with me! No, all wanted to do was work, and when I came to you wanting to talk, you told me you couldn't be disturbed! You made me feel like a pesty fly that was annoying you! What kind of father does that?"

"Annabeth listen - "

Now that she was talking she couldn't seem to stop. All of the pent up anger towards her father was finally breaking loose and she couldn't stop it. He wanted to know her? Fine. He would.

"No! You are going to listen to me for once! I am _tired_ of feeling like I did something to you to make you hate me. All I have ever done is try to get you to notice me. I studied so hard to get good grades so you would be proud of me. I learned how to do my hair when I was little so I could show you that I was independent, like I saw you were. You never took any interest in what I did. Why?"

Her father sighed as if he was giving up. "Because I never wanted a child."

His words hit her like a punch to the gut. She stumbled back and looked at him.

"If you never wanted me then why not let mom raise me? Why make me go through life feeling so alone?"

"Because your mother was killed in a car crash two weeks after you were born."

"She was _what!?_ "

"She was killed Annabeth."

"I always asked where she went. And you just told me she left! Why! Why the hell would you not tell me?"

"I didn't want to tell you at such a young age. Then I just kept putting it off and it never felt like the right time to tell you."

"So you just let me go on thinking that my mother abandoned me."

"I'm sorry. I know it was a horrible thing to do, but it was a very painful time for me and I don't like to talk about it."

She picked up her bag and walked out without another word. Because really, what was there to say?

Annabeth let herself into Percy's house and walked up to his room. His mom wouldn't be home for another few hours and she was glad. One less person to watch her fall apart. She opened his door and he looked up from whatever game he was playing on his phone.

"Hey." he said.

"Hi."

"What's wrong?" he asked putting his hands on her shoulders.

"I don't even know where to start." She said her eyes filling up with tears.

He pulled her down onto his bed and into a hug and she couldn't hold it in anymore. She fell apart on his shoulder with gut-wrenching sobs.

It took forty-five minutes for her to calm herself down so that she could actually tell him what was wrong. She tried to apologize for getting his shirt all wet but he waved her off saying that "There is no reason to be sorry, Annabeth." Once she could finally talk clearly she launched into the whole story of her and her father's relationship. She found that Percy was a really good listener and that he was paying attention to what she was saying. (unlike some people.)

"So what are you going to do?" he asked when she finished telling him.

"Well, I'm obviously not going with him. I mean, he can't do that to me now. I'm almost eighteen anyway."

Percy nodded in understanding.

"But how are you going to tell him that? Especially if he doesn't want to listen to you?"

"I don't know. I don't even want to see him right now."

"I know. You know you can crash here if you want. My mom won't mind in the slightest."

"Really? I just….I can't deal with him right now. I need time to process this." She got up and reached for a kleenex.

"I think it's a good idea to give yourself the weekend at least. Nobody expects you to be okay right now." He was moving his hand in circles on her back and where ever his hand had been, her skin felt like it was on fire.

"I guess. I think maybe I have just always expected myself to be okay. I never really let myself feel anything….you're the first person I have ever told any of this to."

"Well I always say it's better to get it all out of your system, but that's just me. Now come on, let's go downstairs and I will make you some of my famous hot chocolate."

He took her hand and pulled her off the bed. When they reached the door he turned to her with a serious look in his eyes and pulled her in for another hug.

"I'm glad you told me, Wise Girl."

She felt that strange little flutter again, but all she said was, "Me too."

 **A/N: So….surprise! Yeah, This was hard to write. I know there isn't much Percabeth in there right now but I had to get the groundwork of Annabeth's problems with her dad laid out. Anyway, there will be more Percabeth in there soon…**

 **Leave me a review! I wanna see all the reactions to this. (I was a little nervous about writing it.)**


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